News - Soap Buzz

We said it back when General Hospital first aired it’s 52nd anniversary, which eventually became mostly responsible for the ABC daytime drama series winning the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series this year, that the young actors playing a Young Patricia (Chloe Lanier) and a Young Luke (Joey Luthman), were stellar, and we hoped GH would find roles for them down the line!

Well, today a big part of that came true when ABC Soaps In Depth broke the casting news that actress Chloe Lanier is on her way back to GH in the new contract role of Nelle! Look for Chloe to first appear on-screen on the August 5th episode.

SID also relates that that the soap is being very tight-lipped as to details of the character of Nelle, and what brings her to Port Charles, and who she is connected to.

Courtesy/ABC

One thing is for certain, Chloe Lanier blew us all away with her performance as the younger version of Dee Wallace’s Patricia Spencer in her scenes with Tony Geary (Tim Spencer), Laura Wright (Lena Spencer) and Luthman, and if this new part is well-written, Lanier should definitely excel in the role.

Lanier can currently be seen on DirecTV’s series, Kingdom.

So, what do you think about the casting news of Chloe returning to GH? Who do you think Nelle will be related to, or brought on to the canvas for? What storyline could she be involved in? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

She,not Kiki as originally thought, is Nina’s thought dead daughter or she is connected to the Jocelyn transplant story or Laura and Valentin’s unknown daughter or Roxy becomes human due to strange experiments Finn has been conducting in an unused and forgotten basement room at General Hospital-lol

Good one, Jimmy. Sadly, I think I was the only one who kept INSISTING Kiki was Nina’s (deep down I’m still hoping, lol).
However, you are hitting on something here. Now, you got me on a roll…..I will not stop fantasizing.
I sooo want Nina to be happy and fulfilled, as a woman. The only way she will feel complete is having a child.
I hope you’re right because Chloe can really turn and mold a character. Her rendition of a young Patricia is a testament to that.

@CeeCee….I totally agree that the talented Chloe’s performance as young Patricia was truly amazing….she was such a believable younger version of Dee Wallace, and for that reason alone, I’ve always maintained that the showrunners made a HUGE mistake in not casting her as Val….how fitting would it have been for this beautiful, haunting girl to hit Port Charles immediately after her mother’s untimely death? I could have envisioned her version of the character as making such a refreshing impact on Spencer history as she helped to expand the family’s relevance instead of simply serving as the tawdry, lame and divisive adulteress who nearly broke up the Falconeri marriage in the way the current player did. (Not to mention that after that miserable scenario, we still have the present-day Val unsuccessfully scrambling for a meaningful place on the GH canvas, not unlike most of the awful, poorly drawn newbies who have been foisted upon the viewers….) Having said that, this is one introduction that I will welcome, with the proviso that she will be a character of storyline import—like a next-generation Cassadine—and not just more silly window-dressing who pops in and out willy-nilly. As for being Nina’s long-desired spawn? I certainly hope not, as even today, there is never a moment when MS is featured that I don’t pray for her blessed exit…..like Sabs, Hayden, Jordan, Val, etc. I will never accept her character, and as I have stated before, an excellent means to get rid of her would be a one-way ticket to China or Africa to obtain that baby which Nina still so clearly craves. Regardless, congratulations and welcome to Chloe….

Hey, Jimmy and gang,
Please allow me to clarify my statement about Nina’s feeling of being ‘complete’.
I am not speaking for all women, here; therefore, I apologize if any woman has taken the statement in that context. There are many, many women who have no children by choice.
I was trying to impart that NINA feels that HER life is not complete without a child. I was not speaking in generally, but specifically; merely repeating what Nina has been expressing since day one. She brought it to the fore, again, during her ‘chat’ with Carly.
I found her words very touching.
Not being able to conceive could prove very traumatic for a woman; my intention was not to be callous. By the same token, it must be so devastatingly traumatic for a woman to want a baby ( from her own body) so badly, that she would feel less than.
My heart goes out to all those women.

Celia….
What a beautiful addition you posted explaining comment. I found it very heartfelt

Celia replied July 14th, 2016 at 9:16 am

@Mafia Wife.
Thank you for your kind words.

davlestev1 replied July 13th, 2016 at 11:18 am

LMAO Jimh but then again who knew Llanview housed Ming the Merciless city Eterna..and a gateway to the past and Heaven. .that would be hilarious if Robins alien friend returned and turned Roxie into Nelle..sounds like Dudley Doo Right LOL

All good suggestions, Eva. I don’t know about Morgan, though. He just isn’t boyfriend material….not yet, anyway.
I think the writers are making a big mistake by re-injecting romance in Morgan’s life so soon after his discharge from the mental institution. …..gives a very negative message, in my opinion.
Morgan needs time to live without fetters of any kind, until he knows himself.
Sorry, I digress…..this girl is as pretty as she is good an actress. Can’t wait.

I agree with the direction Morgan is going in. It’s basically a retread of a storyline he just finished. Give him something new to do.

Jimmy replied July 12th, 2016 at 6:48 pm

Hopefully not related to Claudette, they don’t need to give her an entire backstory and family too, on top of doing that with Hayden and a slew of other new characters. Just let her settle into the canvas first and see where things go.

I really hope Nelle is a fake name and she’s Serena or Christina Baldwin. If they are going bring someone on in this age bracket it really should be from a core family. Franco could use a baby sister and this would give Kevin, Scotty, and LUCY some more to do too.

Nothing wrong with a bit of spot-on, appropriately-directed snark, Iakovos!!!! It’s one thing to introduce a well-thought out and interesting new character to rejuvenate GH….it’s quite another to continue to keep all the previously failed players wandering about Port Charles and doubling-down on their presence, to boot, instead of having a nice, purgative housecleaning once and for all!!!!

I’m with you Shay, bring in the new and dispose of the old, annoying, useless characters! WE know the list I’m talking about!

Shay replied July 14th, 2016 at 12:06 am

WE certainly do, Timmmbo! That oft-repeated list is more familiar than Nina’s ludicrous and much vaunted one to which she stubbornly fixated for lo so many months! Alas, nearly all of our ardent wishes have gone unfulfilled thus far, yet hope always springs eternal that eventually those pleas will be heard and answered with a massive cast turnover…..preferably before the show implodes under its own weight!!!!!

Hey, Jimmy and Patrick.
Speaking of Tracy. Have you noticed how pretty she looks these days? Her eyes are like gems….they stand out so brilliantly. Is she tanned? I envy women who tan so well. I BURN!!!! Ratz!!

I think she will be the daughter of either Nina, Paul, Scott or Valentin. Hopefully she isn’t just a new random character with no ties to the canvas like Aaron, Amy, Darby, etc. And if you went “who?” to those 3 characters, that’s the point. GH is populated by way too many characters that aren’t connected to any core families.

Also, I really hope “Nelle” is a fake name, because it’s terrible. Almost as bad as Hamilton Finn.

Whoa Nelle !! (reminds me of the horse, whatdah name lol.
Anyways- she is on ‘contract’
that means she is connected to one of the core families, a relative.
Maybe an older Joslin and Nelle is just a pen name.

To you the fact that she is on ‘contract’ means that she is connected to a core family? To me, that means she is anything BUT connected to a core family. Those are the characters that are low-balled on contracts or moved to recurring.

It’s like Frank has this strange mental illness that he just can’t help himself from hiring more and more and more characters! Kind of like that disease where people literally kill themselves due to a complete inability to stop eating, only for Frank it’s about hiring people…

Right on Elizabeth! He is like those people you see on HOARDERS, only he hoards daytime actors from other shows. And as you said, there are plenty of contract characters who have no relation whatsoever to core families. And even some who do (Valerie) are still newbies created out of rewritten history that bring absolutely NOTHING to the show in terms of family relationships. As much as I prefer this regime to the previous one, I think there needs to be a change at the top, meaning Frank V has got to leave! His vision of the show is clearly at odds with what the writers want to do, and it’s like a push pull to watch the show, and it’s tiring. There are so few people to root for on this canvas. Fran is supposedly a pro at bringing the show in on or under budget, and I get that that is all that matters to the bean counters. But…think how much MORE the show could be under budget if it would (and EASILY could) slash about 15 players from the team. I am Anti-Sonny in every way possible, and he is always at the top of my list of a character who could leave and never be missed. But I know that will not happen. When GH ends, (and I think the four network soaps have maybe 5 years of life in them on network t.v.), I m quite sure the final shot will be of Sonny with a halo around his head and a gun in his hand. I know there is a high-up mandate that Sonny cannot lose, Sonny must be written as a hero, etc. I get that. So my wish list for who could be written off always has Sonny at the top of the list. But after that, let’s go through a list of the superfluous, secondary characters eating up screen time with no real point or purpose for being on the show. Valerie, Brad, Lucas, Hayden, Nina, Franco, Dr. Finn, Obrecht, Jordan, TJ, Julian, Olivia, Nathan, Morgan, and the list goes on.

The show has something REALLY special happening with Kevin and Laura. Instead of focusing in on it, and capitalizing in on it, we get snippets of them every two weeks or so. It would be SO refreshing for this show to have a mature couple as the moral centre and compass of the show. Because Sorry, Sonny and Snarly do not qualify!! I like some of the stories the show is starting to tell…only the ones that are mostly free from the stain of Ron Carlivati’s ink.

The show has taken Nikolas way way too dark!! In a show already populated with murderers, why would a show take one of its ONLY solid, non mob related leading men, and with NO motivation or provocation, turn him into a darn near sociopath? Because the show gave us NO reason for his drastic extreme behaviour change (financial troubles? Really?), I made up a few of my own in my mind that would help write Nikolas out of his character assassination;

1) Helena was holding Emily ( and/or any other dearly departed loved ones the viewers clamor to have back), and forcing Nikolas to do her evil bidding. when he finally rescued Emily, then he could revert to being the fair prince, and some real romance would return to the show.

But they didn’t go there.

2) Tired and lame…but Helena somehow mind controlling him. I would have even accepted that to get our Nikolas back.

Nope.

3) Over-used and over done…but the doppelganger thing could have worked here, as Nikolas already had a look alike named Connor years back. I can’t remember if he died or not, but so what? No one dies.

4) A clone. I know Guiding Light did this, so it is hardly novel, but GH has had a long history of things like frozen embryos, cryogenics, aliens, etc. It would be not so far out.

There are other scenarios I envisioned, but you get my drift. There are a lot of ways to restore Nikolas, instead of making him just another villain for no reason. This show is top heavy with villains, and murderers, and there are precious few people to actually care about and root for.

And can I just say? The Jason storyline, which includes Jason and Sam, is just an epic fail on every level! Both actors mumble and look about as enthusiastic as a chubby kid being sent to fat camp. There is zero chemistry between them, and together, they actually drain energy and suck the life out of any scenes they appear in. They act holier than thou, and are so sanctimonious it is absurd, considering that Jason spent the better part of 20 years murdering people for money. And enjoying it. Sam loves her mobsters, but how much do you want to bet that she will viciously turn on Julian for trying to kill Alexis. If the writing was true to character, Sam the mob moll we have come to know and tolerate would be over the moon happy that she came from such high caliber mob stock!! She would feel like she was REALLY a genuine mobster by blood, not just a desperate brain dead cling on!

This storyline did a MASSIVE disservice to long-time viewers. For Jason to fully regain his memories, as promised, that should have been a major storyline in itself. He should have been traumatized and horrified at what his life had become. He should have raged and lashed out at sonny and Carly for taking advantage of him in his brain damaged state. He shoould HATE sonny for killing his brother AJ. Jason should want to bring Sonny down!! That would be the ULTIMATE downfall for Sonny…if the mentally fragile and damaged kid he plucked away from his family and turned into a cold blooded killer came back guns blazing and wanting revenge!! Then Jason could be torn between wanting to be a doctor as planned, and his desire for revenge on Sonny and wangting to reclaim 20 years of his life.

But no…suddenly Jason has his memories back, and his first scenes are with Sonny and Carly, all sunshine and rainbows and unicorns and marigolds. There was no follow up, no emotional fall out, it just went back to being mob business as usual. The personal struggles and emotional recovery of Jason QUARTERMAINE could have provided sophisticated storytelling for years to come. I could go on and on about this, and have! LOL.

I kind of meandered, but point is…most stories are not working at all because most of the characters on the canvas now are Ron Carlivati creations, and they are disjointed and not a part of GH proper. That would be like James Reilly leaving a show and Claire Labine having to come and in and try to fix it. Two diametrically different writing styles will ensure missed opportunities.

The cast is too big, and needs to be pared down and focus, like in the classic days of soap, have an A story, a B story, and a C story, and when they inersect, that’s when the shows would be very good! There are too many stories happening, too much going on, and not enough to root for. but like i said, there are some promising developments, but Valentin Cassadine is NOT one of them!! The actor, from anything i have seen him in, is unappealing. He looks NOTHING like a Cassadine. And do we REALLY need MORE evil characters on the show??? This Valentin was a character that originated somewhere almost ten years ago, and despite never being heard, seen, or mentioned, fans for some reason clung to the fruition of his character. The only good to come from this is that it should redeem Nikolas.

nancy dillingham replied July 13th, 2016 at 8:39 am

“On contract”? Well, so is Genie Francis–how often do we see HER? (Rhetorical question once again–LOL)

Dylan…
Thank you for a VERY Well Written response !! Can’t say I agree with all of it, I did enjoy reading it. You pointed out some much needed “explanations”. Your knowledge of the GH canvas is impressive !!
In fact, I would enjoy your version. One exception, of course, I gotta have some Sonny….

I know, it seems like everyday we talk about another new character arriving on GH. MY only prerequisite is that he or she can act! If by chance they are connected to a long time GH family is a bonus. Could “Nellie” be Serena Baldwin? Probably not since Kin is barely around BUT the girl act her socks off and I welcome her. Next up, young Luke. And just a suggestion, why couldnt young Luke actually turn out to be Luke’s son from Helena? It could have happened 20 years ago? They both have been off screen for long periods of time so Helena could have raised a child on CI.

I agree she has talent. But the GH canvas is already TOO crowded. Stories already run at a glacial pace because there are too many story lines happening to accommodate all the actors on the show. And it still bugs me that they are adding new characters when Brad and Lucas are seen once in a blue moon. With all that’s going down with Julian we should be seeing Lucas’s reaction to it, and both Brad and Bobbie helping him to cope with it.

we also should have seen Alexis at some point, (even now when she’s devastated by all that’s happened in her life), mention and mourn Nicolas’s “death.” They were as close as aunt and nephew could be, at times each other’s sole confidante. Their relationship was all but erased by the writers a long time ago; Shame. I loved their bond. But no one’s mentioned, “hey, Nic fell out a window and we can’t find his body”? Why wasn’t she at the prayer service? (I don’t think she was busy in jail, wire-tapping or begging for her life that day).

What an outstanding young actress to add to all the other talented young core at GH. As a male all I watch is sports and GH and I am very impressed with the quality of actor/actresses.
On a separate note I can’t say enough about how kind the GH cast is at Fantasy events. When they come to Boston I love to go see them. They make their fans feel special and make us feel like they enjoy our company as much as we enjoy theirs.

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Video of the Day

General Hospital has released its new winter promo, a very modern and stylized teaser featuring the couples and triangles to watch for that will turn up the heat during the cold months of the new year. Chief among them: Franco/Liz/Griffin, Curtis/Jordan/Andre, Michael and Nelle, Carly and Sonny, Nathan and Maxie, and Dillon and Kiki. Watch the promo below. Let us know who you are rooting for, and most interested in seeing from the love stories featured. Leave a comment »